Saturday, 12 October 2013

A tea party at the civic Halls

My induction to the Black Country
Wall of Fame.

So this is Blog number 2 and it tells
the tale of an innocent tea party at the Civic Halls in Wolverhampton on Friday
11 October 2013. Of all the amazing things that have happened in my life and
specifically in the last 2 years this might just top the lot. My friends Jimmy
Carr and Gavin Arnold (Gav is Jimmy’s long time tour manager) had invited the
family for tea and cake in his dressing room before the show, to catch up
because we hadn’t seen each other for a while. At least that’s what I believed
to be happening! The truth was something
else entirely, although it was at the Civic, did involve Jimmy and Gav and there was
cake.

In simple terms a surprise party had
been laid on in the main bar. But when I walked in and saw a large number of my
Civic Hall friends there I simply thought someone was having a DO and I’d
walked in on it! Still the penny had not dropped! So I’m at my own surprise
party thinking it’s for someone else! Then I noticed the Mayor of Wolverhampton,
Jimmy and Gav were also there as well as a photographer from the local Newspaper.
But before the penny finally drops (which happens imminently now) something
needs explaining.

The Civic Halls is considered widely
to be the area’s premier entertainment venue and was chosen in 2008 to be the
home of something that is called the “Black Country Wall of Fame”. Basically it’s
a series of road signs that carry the names of famous people in the world of
Entertainment who hail from the Black Country. People like the members of
Slade, John Bonham of Lead Zeppelin, Lenny Henry and Edward Elgar (I kid you
not). These are mounted on the back wall of the Civic stage. Noddy Holder
started it off being the first name on the wall and I managing the event where
that happened. It was my job to look after him for the evening. When I was a
kid (growing up in Wolverhampton in the early 1970’s) Slade where arguably the
biggest name in pop music and Noddy Holder had almost god like status. So for
an evening I got to look after a god, I’ll never forget that. So although the Wall
of Fame may only be important here (in the Black Country) the names on it are
people who are known throughout the world. Well, as of yesterday I would say,
at least most of them are!!!!

So I’m at my own party and the penny
only finally dropped when everyone looked at me and started clapping! Still not
fully dropped though (perhaps they’d just invited more people for Tea). That
only happened when my mate Kelly approached with a road sign that had my name
on it and I mouthed an expletive in front of the Mayor, what would my mom have
said!

I was to be added to the Black
Country Wall of Fame and the Mayor was there (because he likes Tea and Cake) and
the Express and Star (our local paper) to capture Jimmy Carr having his picture
taken with a lot of people.

I was stunned and speechless, felt
numb and was probably in mild shock. So what does it mean, well to me an awful
lot. You see the wall just has famous people on it and it’s there to celebrate their
work and their association with the Black Country. I’m not famous, I just used
to work for the Council remember, but people must think a lot of me for this to
have happen and knowing that is a truly amazing and inspiring thing.

The idea of my inclusion came from
Gav and Jimmy when they were at the Civic in June. They gave the thought to Carol Dunn
who is a Duty Manager at the Halls and one of my dearest friends. Carol is pivotal
to my life; she is a very caring person who often looks after me if Septina and
the girls are not immediately available and has stayed extremely close by during
the last 2 years. She is also incredibly strong and takes no messing from
anyone, sometimes I need that! My life simply would not be the same without
Carol. So she made it all happen, took the suggestion to Senior Management and
then did all the organising for the day, this had been going on for months and
I had NO IDEA AT ALL!

It was the perfect surprise. I think
my initial idea for the blog was to sure journey experiences and to try and explain
just what my life is like. Well this sums it up nicely; surprising, amazing,
humbling, inspiring and a time full of love. Thank you on behalf of myself and
my family to everyone who was part of yesterday, Sep and Lauren just thought it
was going to be a low Key affair until we got there, but of course Carol had
other ideas. What a great day.

Hi SteveWhat a super surprise Steve, and well deserved too. You are a super star! And like the celebrities that have gone before you in the hall of fame, you have touched so many people's lives in a positive way. Best regards as alwaysDebs x